The Moretti Arrangement (10 page)

“Tell me about your holidays on Lake Como,” she said.

He thought back to those long days when he’d been a young boy. “When I was eight or so, I didn’t realize we were the poor relations. My grandfather had let us move into his compound in Milan since my mother worked nearby, and he had servants to help during the day with raising us.”

“What changed?” she asked.

He was a man who’d built his life on pride. He admitted that and knew that how the world perceived him was important to him. “It was that summer. Tony and I used to gang up on Marco…What can I say—he was an annoying little brother.”

“Aren’t they all?” she said with a hint of laughter in her voice.

“Indeed. Well, we dared Marco to jump out of the tree house my father had built for us. And his friend Gui was visiting with us, as well. So Marco and Gui go up in the tree house and jump from the platform. It was about three meters high, and when Marco landed he twisted his knee and broke his leg. Gui was right alongside him and only twisted his ankle.”

“You must have been upset that he got hurt, but how did that change your perception of money?”

“Gui’s family was very angry and threatened to sue my parents for negligence. It was a bigger deal than we imagined, and my grandfather pulled us aside and told us to stop being so…ridiculous—that’s the term he used. He said that one generation of Morettis had squandered their money and not to let our generation continue the pattern.”

Angelina reached over and squeezed his thigh. “You were just a boy.”

“I was old enough to know that what I’d done was wrong. My mother was upset because we might have to sell the Lake Como house. It had been a wedding gift from her parents.”

“I am so sorry. So one act of brotherly teasing changed the direction of your life?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I probably would still be who I am today, but that incident made me stop being so irresponsible.”

His cell phone rang and he let go of her hand to answer it.

“It’s Stark. We need to talk.”

“Tonight, Ian?”

“Yes. I have some important information on the investigation…Dammit. A cop just pulled me over,” Ian said.

“What for?”

“Driving and talking on my cell phone. It’s illegal in London.”

“Call me back,” Dominic said.

“I will.”

Dominic disconnected the call.

“What did Ian want on the phone?” she asked.

“He’s had a break in the ESP Motors investigation,” he answered at length.

“Good,” she said. “I’ll be very happy when that entire mess is behind us.”

“Will you?”

“Yes, I regret ever doing anything to make you feel like you were betrayed.”

He nodded. Her words cemented in his mind that asking her to continue their relationship was the right choice. She had made a mistake and she had changed. He’d seen the evidence himself over the past six months. And he knew he didn’t want to go back to the way life had been before he’d blackmailed her into his bed.

Because his mom’s family had gifted the property to them, it had been a matter of pride that his father had never sold that house.

When his father had lost the chairmanship of Moretti Motors, their immediate family fortune had changed. They’d been forced to sell their house in San Giuliano Milanese and had to live with distant relatives until his mother started making decent money as a teacher at a local university.

“I love this place,” Angelina said as she walked out of the living room area onto the veranda.

“Me, too. I’m sorry we haven’t had time to come out here before this.”

“It’s been a busy summer,” she said. “Next year will be calmer once we get the Vallerio launched.”

“Indeed it will be,” he said. Next summer he’d spend more time at the lake with Angelina and his brothers. Marco was thinking of retiring from F1 racing and he would take over managing Team Moretti when he did. That would give Dominic one less responsibility at work. And he could spend the extra time with Angelina.

“I have something important to talk to you about.”

“You mentioned our relationship in the car.”

He walked to the balustrade’s railing and leaned against it. Angelina looked exquisite in the mood lighting. Her hair curled around her pretty face and her dress clung to her curves. Her nipples were visible under the bodice of her dress and he still had her panties in his jacket pocket.

She was completely bare under that dress and he wondered if conversation was really what he wanted right now. He knew it wasn’t. He was still aroused from her hand on him in the car and he wanted to say the hell with talking and just lift her skirt and take her.

But lust wasn’t the problem between them. Communication was. And he needed things to be settled between them. He needed to know that she was his for the foreseeable future. He needed…her.

“You’re staring at me.” Angelina’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Am I?”

“Yes, you are. What are you thinking, Dominic?”

“I’m wondering what you feel for me,” he said.

She took a deep breath and walked toward him, her hips swaying gently with each step. She stopped when she was at his side and leaned forward, resting her arms against the banister as she stared at the horizon. “Why do you want to know?”

He turned to face the same direction as she was and moved to stand behind her. He placed his hands on either side of her body and leaned over her.

“Because I care for you, Angelina,” he said, speaking directly into her ear. “And I have no idea if your feelings for me have changed.”

She turned her head to the side, brushing her lips over his jaw. “I care for you so much, Dominic.”

“How much?”

She shook her head, her silky curls rubbing against his face. “I’m afraid to tell you.”

“Why?”

She took a deep breath and then looked at him. Met his gaze head-on and he felt the impact of her emotions. “Because if you don’t feel the same way about me, I’m going to feel very vulnerable.”

“I will protect you, Angelina. Even your feelings. Haven’t I done that very thing from the beginning?”

“Yes, you have,” she said. “Even when it wasn’t in your best interest to look out for me, you did. Why did you do that?”

He definitely wasn’t going to tell her that he’d done it for one reason and one reason alone. He could only guess that he’d started loving her a long time ago.

He wrapped his arm around her middle and pulled her back against the curve of his body. Damn, she was a weakness he hadn’t anticipated. A weakness that he knew could be his downfall.

Women and Moretti Motors didn’t mix. Yet he didn’t want to let her go. “Tell me how you feel,” he said. He put his mouth to her neck and nibbled at her skin.

She shifted in his arms, turning to face him. She went up on tiptoe and kissed him deeply. Her tongue slid over his and he was struck again by how right she felt in his arms.

He took control of the kiss and she twisted against him sinuously. He lifted her, setting her on the banister.

He pulled up her skirt and then lowered his zipper. He didn’t take the time for a condom, needing to be inside her. He kept his erection poised to enter her body and felt the damp wetness of her welcome him.

“Tell me,” he said, swiveling his hips to tease her.

She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned down to bite his earlobe.

“
Ti amo,
Dominic Moretti. I love you.”

“Very good,” he said, entering her with one long stroke. He took them both quickly to the pinnacle of release and they climaxed together. Dominic had the answers he hadn’t realized he’d been seeking and it surprised him that they were right here in his arms. That this one woman was the thing that he hadn’t been able to find on his own or in his success at Moretti Motors.

She felt incredibly exposed at this moment. She’d never been more nervous of the outcome of a meal. What if she was like poor Marta, haunted by Dominic until she had to leave not only Milan but Italy? What if…

“Do you like the veal?” Dominic asked.

He was relaxed and in a very good mood. Something she’d noticed early on in their relationship that sex did for him. It relaxed her, too, and normally she loved seeing his face so calm and his easy smile.

But a knot had formed in the pit of her stomach and she knew that until he told her how he felt, it wasn’t going to go away.

“It’s very good,” she said, putting her fork down and reaching across the table for her wineglass. She took one deep swallow and then another.

“Are you okay?”

“I need to ask you something,” she said.

“Okay.” He, too, put his fork his down and leaned back in his chair.

A gentle breeze blew up from the lake, stirring the hair at the back of her neck. She closed her eyes for a minute and let go of the sense of panic she felt. What did it matter how Dominic felt toward her? Her love for him wasn’t going to change.

But she knew that if he didn’t love her she’d end up being the one to carry the burden of their relationship and it would never be balanced. That was something she’d learned the hard way with Renni. And it was only Dominic who’d shown her that she couldn’t always be the one to rescue Renni; he had to do it for himself.

“Angelina?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just this is harder to say than I thought it would be.”

“What is this about? Have you been in contact with Eastburn again?”

She shook her head. “No. Why would you think that? I told you that I wasn’t going to steal anything else from Moretti Motors.”

Dominic took a swallow of his wine. “You are clearly nervous and can’t find the words to tell me whatever is on your mind.”

She twisted her fingers together, tried not to let his accusation stand between them, but it did. And before she could ask him about his feelings, they needed to clear the air about their past.

“You said you’d forgiven me for what I’d done, but I think I need more than that.”

“Okay, what do you want from me?”

“I guess some kind of acknowledgment that you know I’m not a thief. I had never taken anything before this incident and I haven’t done anything since. If you can’t see beyond the circumstances that caused me to make that bad decision, then I guess we don’t have anything else to say to each other.”

“I can. I understand that your brother is your weakness. He’s the only man you care about.”

She shook her head. “He’s not the only man I care about, Dominic. I also care deeply for you. I told you I loved you. Did you think I was lying?”

“I never thought you lied about your feelings. I just don’t know anything else that would make you this nervous. The last time you were this way, I had a meeting with Ian and learned that you were the spy. Can you understand my reaction?”

“Yes. I’m sorry about my part in this. I was just trying to find the words to ask you about your feelings for me. But now I feel stupid that I made it into something else.”

Angelina felt small and more exposed than ever.

“Angelina,
mia bella,
don’t apologize. I jumped to conclusions.”

“Why?” she asked.

“I am nervous, too,” he said.

She laughed.

“That wasn’t very nice.”

“I’m sorry but Dominic Moretti is never nervous. You are the one who strikes fear into your competitors.”

He reached over and stroked her face, something she noticed he liked to do. “That is very true. But you aren’t a competitor, Angelina.”

“No, I’m not. I’m just the woman who loves you,” she said. Having confessed her feelings, she was finding that she liked expressing them.

“I like hearing you say that,” he said.

“I like saying it. I can’t believe how my life has changed,” she said. “To go from the constant fear that I’d be arrested to having you…it’s more than I dreamed possible. Sometimes I almost don’t believe that this is real. That you are my lover and that the life we’ve been living is mine.”

“I don’t want you to fear anymore. I brought you here tonight to ask you to keep living with me,” he said.

“Another arrangement?”

He shook his head. “I think we are beyond that. I don’t want you to be my mistress any longer. I don’t want to hide our relationship from our friends.”

“Oh, Dominic,” she said. “That is what I want, too.”

“Good,” he said. “Then it’s settled.”

“Not yet.”

“What else is there?”

“I want to know how you feel about me,” she said.

“I care about you very much, Angelina.”

“Just care?”

“No, it’s more than—”

“Signore Moretti,” his butler, Gennaro, interrupted from the doorway. “I’m sorry to bother you but you have an urgent call from Signore Stark.”

“I’ll be right back,” Dominic said to Angelina, and she nodded. She could wait to hear him say he loved her. It would be a bit of icing on a night that was already more perfect than she could have imagined.